More Evidence We Live in a Sick, Sick World:

[ullmandds]

yea I saw that...F$cked up is right!

[BobbyStrawberry]

A particularly sick country in a sick world.

[jayshum]

There's another thread about this in the Watercooler section.

https://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=345569

[samosa4u]

The theft was discovered shortly before Black History Month. But Lutz said in an interview after the news conference that he was hopeful the motive wasn't racial, but that the thieves just saw the bronze as monetarily valuable.

Not sure how this makes any sense. If the thieves just saw the statue as monetarily valuable, then why the hell was it found burned up in a trash can?

[CW]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

The theft was discovered shortly before Black History Month. But Lutz said in an interview after the news conference that he was hopeful the motive wasn't racial, but that the thieves just saw the bronze as monetarily valuable.

Not sure how this makes any sense. If the thieves just saw the statue as monetarily valuable, then why the hell was it found burned up in a trash can?

It is hard to say for sure, but one possibility is that it was taken for scrap value or with the thought of selling it on the secondary market, but once the the culprits realized all the heat and attention on the theft, they decided to ditch it. Setting it on fire might have been an attempt to destroy the evidence.

Of course another option is that it was racially motivated, but if that was the case why not just deface the statue or simply set it on fire where it stood in the park? That would've taken nearly the same amount of time as cutting it off at the ankles and trying to haul it off.

I guess whether they were criminals or racists (or both), they were idiots, and who knows what type of reasoning goes through an idiot's mind.

You also have the remote possibility that this was some type of hoax, or just something to get attention in the news for whatever reason.

[Casey2296]

Originally Posted by CW

It is hard to say for sure, but one possibility is that it was taken for scrap value or with the thought of selling it on the secondary market, but once the the culprits realized all the heat and attention on the theft, they decided to ditch it. Setting it on fire might have been an attempt to destroy the evidence.

Of course another option is that it was racially motivated, but if that was the case why not just deface the statue or simply set it on fire where it stood in the park? That would've taken nearly the same amount of time as cutting it off at the ankles and trying to haul it off.

I guess whether they were criminals or racists (or both), they were idiots, and who knows what type of reasoning goes through an idiot's mind.

You also have the remote possibility that this was some type of hoax, or just something to get attention in the news for whatever reason.

+1
I would guess its low brow knuckleheads being of the "lets steal copper pipes out of homes" breed, but the other option is that tearing down statues has become the norm in the last 10 years.

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by Casey2296

+1
but the other option is that tearing down statues has become the norm in the last 10 years.

I’m in Richmond, Va. where apparently we like to rip down statues of Confederate soldiers and Christopher Columbus. So sad that we just still can’t get along.

I weep for the future.

[Kzoo]

Originally Posted by Vintagedeputy

So sad that we just still can’t get along.

The vast majority of everyone gets along just fine. There's other factors at play.

[Snapolit1]

Originally Posted by Vintagedeputy

I’m in Richmond, Va. where apparently we like to rip down statues of Confederate soldiers and Christopher Columbus. So sad that we just still can’t get along.

I weep for the future.

I don't. Being around young people gives me great hope for the future (I won't be here for). They have more respect for other people and the Earth than prior generations ever did. By a lot.

Biggest issue this country faces is getting people with antiquated values out of the way and gone. Like the people on school boards in Florida who don't want kids taught the horrific abuse the Robinsons and other blacks faced in Florida. Would be "woke" or "anti-white" or something.

Refusing to educate kids on what Jackie and others endured is a lot worse crime than cutting down a statue.

[Vintagedeputy]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

The theft was discovered shortly before Black History Month. But Lutz said in an interview after the news conference that he was hopeful the motive wasn't racial, but that the thieves just saw the bronze as monetarily valuable.

Not sure how this makes any sense. If the thieves just saw the statue as monetarily valuable, then why the hell was it found burned up in a trash can?

It is plausible. Not the first time I’ve seen a thief dump something valuable. The thieves could have realized that they don’t have the ability to melt it on their own, and going to someone to do it could lead to their capture.

[JustinD]

Originally Posted by samosa4u

The theft was discovered shortly before Black History Month. But Lutz said in an interview after the news conference that he was hopeful the motive wasn't racial, but that the thieves just saw the bronze as monetarily valuable.

Not sure how this makes any sense. If the thieves just saw the statue as monetarily valuable, then why the hell was it found burned up in a trash can?

I can't imagine it has anything to do with racism unless the news decides to run the hype-train per usual. It has everything to do with crime, stupidity, selfishness, and disrespect.

Sadly theft of statues, bells, and bronze work has been commonplace for years. It is so common of late in my area that the bronze plaques for historic sites are so hard to keep up with replacement that many are now missing. Several years ago an 8 foot statue of Jesus was removed from a cross a stolen from a local church overnight that was mounted at the pulpit, not outdoors. The sad part was it was made to look bronze, it was not.

I have a friend whose family owns a large cemetery, they have had to hire 24 hour watchmen to stop the theft of the decorative bronze urns or statuary in the historic graves.

The Detroit police now require a call from scrapyards of any deliveries of new copper (stolen from job sites) and decorative bronze items (again stolen). The thieves now just sledgehammer the items to unrecognizable chunks to sell, or like in this case...bonfire and try to melt it to an unrecognizable state.

This is the next step after the scrappers have already stolen all the copper and fixtures from any home that sits unoccupied for a bit too long. There are hundreds or likely thousands of stories in the city of people just leaving for work and returning to every centimeter of aluminum sliding removed from their home.

It's amazing what people do for an easy payday and to avoid a 9 to 5.